Collective Bargaining in the TSA

Well, travelers, the first shoe has fallen in the path toward union job actions shutting down U.S. airports. The pathetic leadership of the TSA has agreed to collective bargaining with airport screeners. Unbelievable. Does no one remember what happened when air traffic controllers were unionized? Those arrogant SOBs caused so many problems with air transport that President Reagan had to bust the union into oblivion in 1981.

The TSA claims that the screeners union (and there will be one) will not have the legal right to strike. Since when has that stopped a union from striking? Their was a federal law prohibiting strikes by air controllers, a law that was ignored. Teachers strike, nurses strike, everyone strikes, if they are in a union and want more money.

The TSA union members will try to be clever, of course. To start, they won’t actually “strike” to get what they want. They will call in sick, the scanners will have mysterious “breakdowns”, and many of us will suddenly become “suspicious travelers”, producing line-clogging body searches by union members with smirks on their faces.

Obama and his team are throwing a huge bone to organized labor. This is eventually going to cost all of us money, time, and missed flights. This why I must bestow on the TSA a “fool of finance” award.

Comments

Well Mr. Tough, you get my fool of history award. Congratulations! It is truly remarkable how supposedly intelligent people buy into the rhetoric without taking the time to arm themselves with a little historical perspective.

As to Reagan, this Sainthood crap needs to end. This loser of a president used his religious beliefs to create policies about the AIDs epidemic that cost thousands their lives (it’s a “gay man’s” disease, despite warnings from the CDC). His reversal of alternative fuel research implemented by President Carter is still with us. And let us not even talk about deficit spending, and deregulations. He was an abomination of a President, and it is stunning that you can not count the dead as a results of his policies and come to a different conclusion.

The man was a walking talking fool of finance, and you want to glorify him because he busted a union? Perhaps you don’t recall the results of that?

Doesn’t it just stick in the craw of Liberals that even now nearly 30 years after his presidency Ronald Reagan is STILL one of the most popular, admired, and beloved Presidents of American history. So much so even the Prodigal Son (we mere mortal know as Obama) has to invoke his name and claim to be like him!

I doubt anyone will be having massive celebrations on the 100th birthday of Bill Clinton or Obama.

TML – FYI: The post office is unionized (3 unions I believe depending on the job) and they do not have the legal right to strike. The one and only postal strike took place in the 70’s. Only lasted a day or two but was a national disaster. Part of the settlement was the union (at least the letter carrier’s union) gave up the right to ever strike again.

But you’re right. They can and do have “the blue flu”, work slow downs, purposeful crappy service etc.

Once again you’ve proven that your “knowledge” of the “facts” when it comes to history is poor and full of holes at best.

First of all the strike was not in the 70’s, but in 1970 itself.

Second of all it didn’t last a day or two. It actually lasted two weeks.

Third of all the strike mostly happened due to various Nixon policies that are too lengthy to get into and it is irrelevant as I’ve seen your ability to actually read and comprehend non-right wing history.

When the strike happened Congress pretty much bent over and took it from the postal workers and the workers got more or less everything they asked for.

The rub is that APWU is an extremely weak union that has allowed its members via wage concessions and job cuts to get bent over for the last twenty-five years due to not being able to strike.

“This is eventually going to cost all of us money, time, and missed flights.”

As to this statement TML, I have two words for you: Prove It.

It won’t be any worse than the unions that airlines employees already are covered by and the games that they are allowed to already play because of it.

APWU is the union for the clerks. The NALC is for the letter carriers. I think the mail handlers in the distribution plants have their own union too. Not sure which of these went on strike but the point is it happened and crippled the country. The reasons why aren’t important to this discussion.

Either way it was a disaster for the country.

If an airline union strikes a specific company that airline is grounded but the others still fly (unless there’s a sympathy strike which is BS anyway). But if the TSA strikes that grounds all flights.

And they are the largest postal union out of the four.
(APWU, NALC, NPMHU, NRLCA)

“Not sure which of these went on strike but the point is it happened and crippled the country”

The APWU didn’t exist until 1971 after the strike as it was founded from five of the existing unions of the time that were folded until this new organization as part of the settlement under the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970.

“The reasons why aren’t important to this discussion.”

Well of course since, as usual, you’ve proven that when it comes to history you don’t know your ass from a hole in the ground.

And that if it didn’t come from FOX then it must not have existed or happened so you always just want to move on or dismiss it.

“If an airline union strikes a specific company that airline is grounded but the others still fly”

That’s nice but that’s not what I was talking about.

“The TSA union members will try to be clever, of course. To start, they won’t actually “strike” to get what they want. They will call in sick, the scanners will have mysterious “breakdowns”, and many of us will suddenly become “suspicious travelers”, producing line-clogging body searches by union members with smirks on their faces”

TML made this biased and unproven statement in his post.

My response towards him was to say that these games with delays and mysterious “breakdowns” already occur everyday and there is nothing new that a TSA union will do that will be any worse than what we all already expect and accept from air travel as it is.

Sooooooooooo, since you are celebrating RR after 100 yrs let me ask you a quick question, how exactly did Ronnie rise to power in California? Don’t you find it ironic that your icons rise to power was propelled by the SAG? Look it up, don’t be afraid of a little bit of knowledge…. Too funny, an article bashing unions picks an icon who for the majority of his life was a staunch union supporter. You really out to be ashamed of the misrepresentation in this article.